The £2.5bn investment programme by Openreach continues, with another 163
exchange areas announced as getting FTTC and FTTP services. This latest
announcement comprises of phase 10bpf of the roll-out that once complete should
see superfast wholesale services available to two thirds of UK households.
While the roll-out is predominantly FTTC based, there are some areas that will
get a native FTTP service too.

Openreach has updated its superfast portal, including its checker, which still only gives
exchange based information, we still hold out a small glimmer of hope that
Openreach will start to provide cabinet/postcode level information so that
people can be more certain of when either full or partial fibre is coming to
their street.

The roll-out of FTTP based services has to date been slow, mainly we presume
due to the extra work involved in rolling the fibre out to with a few metres of
every property in the areas where it is planned. These native FTTP areas are no
more expensive to get service with than the FTTC areas, as Openreach does offer
slower cheaper products that align with the FTTC services, whether the retail
providers offer this is down to them. The areas due to get full fibre (FTTP)
are listed below, we should point out that while the list is exchange areas,
only part of the exchange area usually gets FTTP.

Areas in italics are those where just FTTP is
planned/available. Other areas will see a mixture of FTTC/P

We have listed the FTTP areas, as while FTTP is going to form just 10
percentage points of the commercial roll-out, it is important in showing that
Openreach does recognise that full fibre is the future. Once the fibre on
demand product launches in 2013, then those in the FTTC areas will get the
option to order a full fibre fibre, though their installation fees will be a
lot higher than the native FTTP areas.

Update 1st October 2012: After someone raised issue, we chased status
of Doncaster and Doncaster North and rather than being pure FTTP roll-out, the
two exchange areas are actually a mixture of FTTC and FTTP products.

Comments

Posted by
browney over 4 years ago
Sunderland went live today but looks like the order page hasn't updated yet or my cab hasn't been activated yet.

Posted by
BB4FABS over 4 years ago
And the 163 exchange areas are?

Posted by
rayvon over 4 years ago
They are still waiting for BT to pull the names out of a hat.

Posted by
Michael_Chare over 4 years ago
So some people will get FTTP for free and others, perhaps those where FTTC will provide little benefit due to line loss/length, will face massive installation costs. I do wonder whether this is reasonable.

Posted by
fastman over 4 years ago
new exchnages are included on openreach.co.uk in future exchanges

Posted by
krol over 4 years ago
And yet again no mention of those exchanges delayed for a further 3 months.

It's all well and good announcing exchanges, but how can we see the statistics for which exchanges have actually been delivered?

Posted by
andrew ( staff member)
over 4 years ago
Added link to the list of 163 new exchange areas now.

Posted by
Bob_s2 over 4 years ago
BT are crafty they just update the list and dont tell anyone.

The way to momitor what is actually going on is to tajke a copy of the spreadsheets on the openreach web site and date them. You can then use the twitter feed to monitor them or just compare the latest spredsheets on the web site against the dated copies you take

Posted by
krol over 4 years ago
The problem is having that historical data. As unless you started taking this originally you don't have anything to work on (and couldn't show a realistic view).

Posted by
nickeloi over 4 years ago
Bleddy hell why isn't Tavistock in the rollout? Oh hold on, it is. FTTC in 2013, according to http://www.superfast-openreach.co.uk/where-and-when/

(Thought I'd mention that because I saw someone moaning a lot about Tavistock last few times I was on this site!)

I guess the other 162 are listed in there too, hopefully all reasonable sized towns are included now.

Posted by
Bob_s2 over 4 years ago
You cannot go back in history but if you take a copy of todays spreadsheets you can see actual progress from that date. It makes sorry reading though as not much happens

Posted by
camieabz over 4 years ago
Fife Exchange update, showing current and planned, with premises breakdown:

http://www.camieabz.co.uk/fife-ex.jpg

Posted by
camieabz over 4 years ago
I should mention that the future looks quite rosey if exchanges with sub-3000 residential premises and sub-100 commercial premises are being earmarked.

Posted by
Borisvon over 4 years ago
not that I'm cynical but even though my exchange is finally on the list I won't be releasing my held breath until it's available on my cab..:)

Posted by
wb99999 over 4 years ago
"Areas in italics are those where just FTTP is planned/available"

Doncaster and Doncaster North are showing as FTTP only, but they are FTTC.

Posted by
andrew ( staff member)
over 4 years ago
@wb99999

Well its not my mistake, just double checked the Openreach data. Will chase them. Partly one reason for publishing list like this, so people can raise questions.

Posted by
tthom over 4 years ago
Why do they make it avalible in the worse places in glasgow half of them in glasgow excganges have VM or on benifits so god knows who expressed intrest

Posted by
Spectre_01 over 4 years ago
because even with the VM presence the trials showed that the biggest uptake of Openreach NGA products were still in these areas and therefore offer a good ROI. The cable companies chose these areas for a reason.

Posted by
andrew ( staff member)
over 4 years ago
@tthom the commercial roll-out is not based on any demand led scheme, but where the Openreach accountants believe they can make a ROI.

With Virgin in almost 48% of the UK overlaps are inevitable.

Posted by
tthom over 4 years ago
suppose guess im just bitter that my exchange never got selected haha

Posted by
wb99999 over 4 years ago
@andrew Yeah, I noticed that on Openreach's site before I posted. I didn't mean to imply it was your mistake.

Posted by
dazzle39 over 4 years ago
On Sept 1st OR issued a press release relating to Wales with the title - "Wales to get economic boost from huge fibre broadband project" yet only one further Welsh exchange is listed amongst the 163 announced today! Buff and bluster in the highest degree!

Posted by
doowles over 4 years ago
What about apartment blocks? My exchange has been enabled for years but they don't seem to be able to upgrade our cabinet for some reason :(

Posted by
andywhy over 4 years ago
I just wish they would finish the roll out to the places already started before moving onto others. WALLASEY was supposed to be done in March but was pushed back to July. However I still can't get BT FTTC and they can't tell me why. It should be fully rolled out in my area now and I'm more than willing to become a BT broadband customer, yet they won't let me.

Every time I speak to them they just say they don't know and can't give me any details. It's pretty annoying especially when I've been looking forward to getting broadband that's a decent speed.

Posted by
andrew ( staff member)
over 4 years ago
@dazzle39 - non of the non-commercial projects have had any deployment announced. You can be sure the regions/councils will shout loudly when that happens.

Posted by
Dilbert over 4 years ago
Makes for great headlines when they keep announcing all these new areas that will be upgraded but without the cabinet level information on what will and wont be upgraded it just provides lots of people with false hope.

It's a bit daft in this day and age that the best way of knowing whether or not you will be able to get FTTC/FTTP when your exchange is converted is when they actually come to dig a hole for the new cabinet....... Openreach obviously have all the information on what cabinets will and wont be upgraded when an exchange is converted so this information should be made public ASAP.

Posted by
New_Londoner over 4 years ago
@Dilbert
not sure you could publish anything at cabinet level in advance with any certaintly. With the current planning regulations you'd see some blocked when applications are submitted to the council, and would probably find some sites impossible due to buried cables etc not shown on maps.

So any list down to cabinet level would at best be aspirational before some form of local survey, any necesary planning application etc.

Posted by
fastman over 4 years ago
Dazzle the announcement re wales will be investmen in non commercial exchnage wqhich require invervention funding -- the announcement today is around exchanges that ar part of Openreach Commercial deployment only

Posted by
welshwarrior over 4 years ago
Yep just one more Welsh Exchange announced and with BT saying this is the Bulk of their non BDUK upgrades, thing look very bleak indeed.

Posted by
welshwarrior over 4 years ago
BT's Mike Galvin said:

We have now announced the bulk of the exchanges we will be deploying fibre to under our own steam but we are keen to go even further with the help of BDUK [Broadband Delivery UK] funding. We will continue to engage with local government and communities to try and give as many people as possible access to the benefits of fibre broadband.

Posted by
andrew ( staff member)
over 4 years ago
I was expecting two more announcements and one was at end of Sept. So this is one of them.

We covered estimates of 1450 exchanges under commercial roll-out, covering some 30,000 cabinets earlier in the year.

Posted by
arfster over 4 years ago
Bunted back another three months, as usual. Two years of that now.

At least there are cabinets going up finally around here, although they've missed mine bang in the centre :-)

Posted by
Dilbert over 4 years ago
@New_Londoner

That's the whole point, the status of all these cabinets whether it's stuck in the planning process, scheduled to be installed, not planned at all etc is known within Openreach and should be made available to the public.

163 New exchanges announced today but no one in those areas can be sure they will be able to get FTTC until Openreach digs a hole near their cabinet, bit silly tbh.

Posted by
andrew ( staff member)
over 4 years ago
@dilbert Actually even if cabinet installed if someone lodges a successful objection it might be removed. So even installation not 100% certainty

Posted by
dazzle39 over 4 years ago
@welshwarrior I agree! There are just under 60 exchanges in Wales either providing or scheduled to provide FTTC/P - around 13% of the total number. Wales is a rural country with many small communities and I would expect BDUK funding to help out here. But there are also plenty of larger towns which are excluded from OR's commercial roll-out plans (as there are in other parts of the UK too). Will these be missed altogether - or is OR going to claim it needs BDUK funding for these too - possibly at the expense of other, smaller exchanges? The rat is beginning to smell pretty rotten indeed!

Posted by
Dilbert over 4 years ago
@Andrew

Yup I appreciate that in some cases (I would imagine a smallish %) things may change but if the whole process was more transparent I think at least people would be able to see what was planned for them rather than waiting to see if a hole gets dug in the ground.

FTTC for some poor peeps must be like looking forward to Christmas when their exchange finally gets announced but then finding Christmas morning that Santa has forgot to visit their house.

Posted by
gregg465 over 4 years ago
Looks like my Exchange isn't getting fibre until at least 2014 and even at that I doubt it will be then. Does BDUK have a focus on certain places with low speeds or just random. I struggle to get 200kb here.

Posted by
tthom over 4 years ago
@andrew so you think the other announcement will be more exchanges or other news

Posted by
Stealth549 over 4 years ago
Can't see any exchanges in Norfolk on that list. BDUK funded projects classes differently or will they be started in the next phase ?

Posted by
andrew ( staff member)
over 4 years ago
@stealth549

The BDUK exchange announcements will be clased differently. The contract has only just been signed, and before proper work starts approval has to be given by the EU. This may seem any announcements and work delayed until next summer.

Posted by
phil_cooke over 4 years ago
All well and good announcing exchanges, but Melrosegate has been enabled for a while and all the cabinets in my area have been ignored apparently (nothing on the checkers for FTTC or FTTP) - if they can't make money off city cabinets the rurals have no chance :(

Posted by
KarlAustin over 4 years ago
It'd make very sorry viewing, the number of exchanges announced but repeatedly pushed back. I'm on one such exchange which has had another 3 month push-back :(

Posted by
Bob_s2 over 4 years ago
The most logical and cost effective means of getting HS broadband to very rural areas has to be FTTC and WiFi Netork. That works particularly well in the flat Eastern councties region

Posted by
Eljmayes over 4 years ago
Any ideas what is the exchange with the lowest amount of premises to be upgraded to FTTC so far?

Posted by
NilSatisOptimum over 4 years ago
@dazzle39 - The link was update on the Welsh progress, There is a detailed map being drawn up to be released this Autumn! http://wales.gov.uk/topics/businessandeconomy/broadbandandict/broadband/ngbw/?lang=en

Posted by
vicdupreez over 4 years ago
Pardon me for not getting exited about posts like these... Andrew, can you please push for an update on the no cab exchanges?

Vic

Posted by
andrew ( staff member)
over 4 years ago
What do you mean by no cab exchanges? An exchange that has no cabinets connected to it all, or the small percent of lines that most exchanges have that are exchange only.

EO lines are done on a commercial basis currently, so extra cost means unikely to get done, but where BT wins BDUK contract very likely to see improvements based around what we've covered in news previously

Posted by
vicdupreez over 4 years ago
I mean the exchanges with no cabinets at all. We have been waiting for an announcement from BT on the exchanges that does not have any cabinets. In my own talks with BT, they confirmed that they are working on something. That was at least 3 months ago.

Vic

Posted by
fastman over 4 years ago
Exchnage with no cabs will proably be tiny exchnages normally lesst tand around 500 premsies and would expect these exchanges to be Market Failure and therefore an area of intervention

Posted by
vicdupreez over 4 years ago
fastman. I am willing to dig a 2km trench, bury 2km of fiber, and connect to the exchange in our village. All BT has to do is provide me with somewhere to connect it to... RIGHT AT their exchange. I know everyone whose property I will have to go over, so way leaves is no issue. I am even willing to share this fibre with my neighbours to allow them to have the same fast connection.

Posted by
vicdupreez over 4 years ago
All I am asking from BT is give us a cabinet where we can connect that fibre to... 1 cab. There is 319 lines connected to our exchange. Not sure how any place can be declared a "market failure" when there was no survey done to see how many would buy. Anyway, I am giving up on BT, and will be cancelling my landline in the next month or so...

Posted by
fastman over 4 years ago
vidcupreez you shoud be speaking to your Local Authority to see how you will be affected by BDUK you area shoud be covered under Marke Failure (not commercially viable for Fibre) and should have been identified as that as part of the Open Market Review process that each local autohitry needs to undertake to determine which areas are not covered commercially so the Local Authority can priortise how and where it will spend its BDUK money (its Requirement document will be the output of those priorities

Posted by
andrew ( staff member)
over 4 years ago
Also look at the RCBF scheme that can provide funding for precisely this sort of thing. Also other firms like Geo can provide you a fibre link to the wider world.

Posted by
AspieMum over 4 years ago
My exchange is on the list of ones not given a date but planned to get FTTC. While I doubt I would be able to afford the expensive upgrade cost for FTTP FTTC areas have if you want FTTP at least it should mean I can get over 2MBs and actually be able to do basic web browsing on enough computers at once. Our local cabinet may be badly placed so not as close to our home as you'd expect as I have never seen it but its got to be closer than our exchange.

Posted by
AspieMum over 4 years ago
I would like to see added to the website a cabinet locator where you can use your postcode or phone number to find out where your cabinet is. I have never seen one near us.

Posted by
mmkbroadband over 4 years ago
It was all geared up to happen on the 30/06/2012 when all of a sudden the delivery date was changed to 30/09/2012 for BT to deliver FTTC to Pontypridd - South Wales. I was talking to BT sales discussing what is involved in the switch over from my current ISP to BT to take advantage of the new speeds. I was assured that it is all going ahead and to ring back on the 1st of Oct to start the order.

Posted by
mmkbroadband over 4 years ago
Last Thursday I checked the BT broadband site for news of progress on the FTTC delivery to Pontypridd. I could not believe it but they had moved it to 31/12/2012. When I complained BT blamed it on planning permissions and that the job is taking longer than expected. So what are your bets on BT delivering FTTC to Pontypridd on New Years eve !!!

Posted by
FatLes12 over 4 years ago
Openreach says that they're accepting orders for my local exchange (Hooton), but no one (including BT Infinity) appear to be offering FTTC or FTTP for my area!

Posted by
jayarte over 4 years ago
I wonder how they decide which local exchanges to include? I am in a small-ish village called Halton, 2 miles outside Lancaster, which is not included, and yet Garstang, another small-ish village further away from Lancaster is included.
It's such a shame that broadband has become, like lots of other things including access to health care, a postal lottery.